The Super Bowl. The highly anticipated holy day in the world of professional football. Super Bowl XLIX (49) featured the best of the best from both conferences in today’s NFL; the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Representing the NFC, the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks.
After finishing the regular season with a 12-4 record, the Seahawks headed into, Sunday’s game behind the confidence and swagger of their highly touted secondary lead by the infamous Richard Sherman. Their opponents, the AFC Cham-pion New England Patriots. The Patriots finished the regular season with an equally impressive 12-4 record. The Patriot’s franchise is no stranger to postseason success, as this will be the team’s sixth Super Bowl appearance since the year 2002.
As the game began, it was apparent early on that this game would be one to remember. After a relatively uneventful first quarter scoring wise, the strengths of these two vastly different teams began to shine through. The Patriots were first to strike with an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tom Brady to receiver Brandon LaFell. But the Seahawks would not be held back for long as they responded with a scoring drive of their own capped off with a 3-yard touchdown run from running back Marshawn Lynch.
After Brady’s Patriots managed to put another touchdown on the board with a mere 30 seconds left on the game clock, it seemed as though the Seahawks would go into halftime with a 7 point deficit. However, thanks to the heroics of Seattle’s quarterback Russell Wilson, the Seahawks managed to tie the game with a last second touchdown pass to receiver Chris Matthews, the first touchdown grab of his
career.
At the start of the second half, Seattle took control of the game right out of the gates, scoring 10 unanswered points and taking a 24-14 lead over New England heading into the final quarter of play; but it would be the Patriots who would have the final say.
After the Patriots closed the gap to just three points with over half of the fourth quarter remaining, fears of a come-back started to creep into the minds of Seahawks fans worldwide. Finally, with just over two minutes left in the game, Tom Brady found a wide open Julian Edleman for the go ahead touch-down, but this game was far from over. Seattle then gained control of the ball with two minutes left, poised to make one final run at winning their second consecutive Super Bowl title.
As the Seahawks entered New England territory, Russell Wilson hit Jermaine Kearse for a miraculous juggling catch down to the New England five-yard line. With nothing but a few yards standing between them and hoisting the Lombardi trophy, an unlikely hero emerged for the Patriots. An undrafted rookie out of the University of West Alabama, Malcolm Butler, made a lunging interception at the goal line to seal the victory.
Final score: New England 28, Seattle 24.